Old TV show "Mr. Goober" may be long gone, but it turns out the Channel 8 series inspired more than just its young viewers in the 1960s.

The title character was created and played by Mike Warren (born Warren Getzinger) of Branford, whose offspring have worked on TV shows and movies such as "Sex and the City" and "Die Hard."

Daughter Jennifer Getzinger, who has been a script supervisor on "Sex and the City" and other shows, graduated recently to director and helms the 10 p.m. Sunday episode of prestigious AMC drama "Mad Men."

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Son Scott Getzinger, 43, of Newtown, has worked as a prop man on such films as "The Truman Show," "War of the Worlds" and the recent "Indiana Jones" sequel. He served as prop master on the upcoming Martin Scorsese work "Shutter Island."

"Property master is anything to do with props on a film," says Warren, "from guns to cars to belt buckles. It's getting them assembled and approved by the director."

"Mr. Goober" aired from 7-8:30 a.m. and 3:30-4:30 p.m. weekdays on then-WNHC-TV (now WTNH), based on College Street in those days. The show ran from 1961-71, and you get the feeling Warren, 76, would pick up the character again today in a minute.

"When I started that show, I was in my 20s," he said in a phone chat from Branford, where he was lived for 40 years with wife, Ronna. "Now I don't need the makeup."

In fact, he did work on a revival of "Mr. Goober" in the 1970s, a 13-week show that ran weekends leading up to Christmas. Warren brought on an amateur magician, Paul Fusco, who would later create the national sensation "ALF," to work on that production. He ran a Groucho Marx-like puppet named Sycamore Skunk. But the business was changing, with adult morning shows ("Today," "Good Morning America") replacing children's shows and with pressure from activists to stifle advertising in kids' shows.

Another video effort, a pilot shot at CPTV's studios that recreated the "Mr. Goober" set, followed. But a syndication deal proved elusive, and Fusco would go on to create his top-20 TV show for NBC after a pitch meeting with Brandon Tartikoff (also formerly of Channel 8 in New Haven and since deceased).

Warren went on to do the morning talk show "Dialing for Dollars" at Channel 8 with Bob Norman, even though some people told him he couldn't make the transition from kids' show character to daytime host. The show led to breezy "AM Connecticut" and "12 O'Clock Live," which live on in "News Channel 8 at Noon" and companion show "Connecticut Style."

"We were very proud of that one," Warren said of the noon show. "Martha Stewart (then unknown) started on that show. She called and said she had a delicious recipe for soup. I said, 'Great, let's do it.' Well, that soup was out of this world."

Warren recalls the anchoring start of nationally known broadcaster George Grande, whom Warren calls "good people." But the first anchor he recalls was another affable voice known for commentaries on WELI radio and a continuing professorship at the University of New Haven.

"When I got there, it was Jim Dull. ... In looking for a place to live at the time, my wife and I found a side-by-side duplex in Morris Cove. The landlord said, 'If you know anybody else who needs a place, let me know,' so I asked Jim, who brought his wife in from Scranton (Pa.) and they lived next door to us for a year."

Dull and Warren have been pals since.

Jennifer Getzinger remembers the Mr. Goober and Channel 8 work, and it may have planted the seeds for her own work.

"I was always enamored of my dad's whole career," she said this week in a phone interview from Los Angeles. "As a kid, I went down to the station occasionally. I remember being interested in all those people behind the scenes. I thought, 'What are these people doing?'"

Now she, too, works behind the scenes, not craving the local fame her father knew in her childhood.

"My dad would get stopped a lot in public. When I went to friends' houses, their moms would ask me about my dad. It was nice but ... I just thought it was weird to go out to the grocery store and be recognized."

Still, her dad's job "was always so amazing. He would come home with autographs of famous people who would come on his show."

Jennifer, who works now with famous people of her own (Jon Hamm, January Jones in "Mad Men") graduated from Branford High School and attended Long Beach State and Boston University. She moved back and forth to L.A., working as a director's assistant and script supervisor (who is at the director's right hand, keeping track of continuity from take to take, dialogue and making notes to the editor).

"In 2005," says her proud father, "Jennifer was selected as one of only eight women to participate in the American Film Institute's Directing Workshop for Women, a national competition to promote the development of more women directors in the film and TV industries."

A short feature film came out of that, which was shown at film festivals. On Sunday comes one of a handful of other stories she has directed, the 11th of 13 episodes this season of the reigning top drama at the Emmys. Directing has been the goal all along, she said.

"It was very exciting to do," Jennnifer said. "Toward the end of the season, things are really kind of coming to a boil. To start the season, it can be a slow-paced show plot-wise. But the last few episodes, things really ramp up."

She said she's not allowed to reveal more details than that, except to note that there were shots she couldn't get in, and it's "much more intense and dramatic" than the other story she directed this season, episode three's "My Old Kentucky Home."